Develop Bugs

Universal - HDD

Hi all,
I am a newbie to this forum and have not yet bought my Universal. I am waiting for my next visit to the UK. Long story.
Anyway, the main point of this topic is that for me, one of the main things missing from the Universal is large mass storage capability (videos, photos, etc.).
I therefore intend to develop an interface to connect a hard drive to the Universal. I am a professional hardware and software developer BTW.
As far as I understand from this site, the current position is this;
The USB interface does not support host mode. (whether due to software or hardware...).
There is no expansion port as fitted to the XDAII etc. (if only, then this would be a no brainer).
The SDIO/MMC card socket is probably the most likely interface to use.
Can anyone confirm these assumptions?
I would like to develop this either as a docking station or a replacement back for the universal. However initially I suspect it will be connected by a cable.
If anyone has any more information, please let me know. I suspect that I will end up developing an MMC/SDIO to ATA/IDE or USB host interface. Alternatively I could just wait for CE-ATA drives and hopefully someone else will have written the drivers...

lkingscott said:
The USB interface does not support host mode. (whether due to software or hardware...).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just off the top of my head.
One USB host channel is used for the GSM/UMTS/GPS data transfer. The second one is
not used. The third is configured, but its purpose is unclear.
There is no expansion port as fitted to the XDAII etc. (if only, then this would be a no brainer).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They didn't wire even the serial port, so what
expansion port are you taking about
The SDIO/MMC card socket is probably the most likely interface to use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have no other choice. USB and SDIO.
I will end up developing an MMC/SDIO to ATA/IDE or USB host interface.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MMC/SDIO<->USB is the best, if you will solve the power problem.

If you read my post more carefully, you will see that is exactly what I say - I.e. the Exec/universal has NO expansion port as far as I am aware (unlike the XDAII which has one which can even support ATA style interface (Compactflash...))
USB2 host via SDIO/MMC will be unlikely as the MMC/SDIO interface is so slow and would probably require 2 separate interfaces plus micro although Atmel have some promising looking devices with integrated USB... However SDIO - ATA/IDE could be done relatively easily with a decent microcontroller.
Power is no big deal, as an external device it would have its own power - internal battery... but if I get as far as making it part of a docking station or replacenment back, then a bigger battery or even 2 batteries would be the way to go.

To bad this is all hot air. Time wise you don't have the time. What is the lifespan of the universal? 18 months to two years. No way in that window will you have time to develop a "Docking" station. Well not as commercial product anyway.

Pesimistic or what...
32G MMC & SD cards are supposed to be available next year.... Maybe that's why they didn't bother with expansion options...

I could confirm all of your assumptions. I have a Universal for a while now and one biggest thing I really wanted is, a Mass Storage, like an external HDD. I posted a while ago, my dream addition is a backpack/docking station that has extended battery, and a mass storage, or at least a USB host port or a CF slot.
Besides all interfaces you mentioned, don't forget the Universal also has wireless interface: BT and IrDA.
I read there is BT HDD outhere (4GB) but kind of expensive and not sure if its in production already.
If there is a way to hook up an external HDD, I will be among the first customers.
Btw, where did you hear about the 32GB SD Card?
Other thing I can think of, there is a device such as Cowon A2 that has a USB host function. It certainly can read from Universal SD Card if they are hooked up together, but Universal will not be able to access the Cowon A2 big harddrive. They mention that Cowon A2 can only read and copy from, and not copy to.

Since internal mass storage isn't an option, then external storage via wireless has to be a reasonable alternative. I don't know if bluetooth HDs exist, but there is certainly a wi-fi option from ASUS - see http://uk.asus.com/products2.aspx?l1=12&l2=44
This takes a standard laptop 2.5" HD and can connect wirelessly to an existing network or it can act as an access point for direct connection with another device. It's not the fastest device in the world, but it works fine on a home network as a basic back up file server as well as a store for mp3s which can then be played by any other device on the network. I hope to get my XDA next month and see if it also can wirelessly play mp3s in this way.

sjdigital said:
Since internal mass storage isn't an option, then external storage via wireless has to be a reasonable alternative. I don't know if bluetooth HDs exist, but there is certainly a wi-fi option from ASUS - see http://uk.asus.com/products2.aspx?l1=12&l2=44
This takes a standard laptop 2.5" HD and can connect wirelessly to an existing network or it can act as an access point for direct connection with another device. It's not the fastest device in the world, but it works fine on a home network as a basic back up file server as well as a store for mp3s which can then be played by any other device on the network. I hope to get my XDA next month and see if it also can wirelessly play mp3s in this way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2kg!!!!! :shock:
Who wants to carry that "portable" device? :lol:

I don't know where you get "2 kg" from? The thing weighs 200g according to the specification in the instructions (although whether that includes the HD itself I can't say!). It's certainly portable, if not pocketable, but the original post was about mass storage for music, videos, etc. and this device provides that very conveniently.

I found the weight there:
http://www.techfever.co.uk/products.asp?partno=4721&source=tempriser
but you're right, on the other website it says 200g:
http://www.techbuy.com.au/products/....5_Hard_Drive_Case_-_802.11g_Ethernet_USB.asp
but anyway, you need to use an external power source so for me it's not portable...

Yes, I have one and for sure it's nowhere near 2kg! It's a bit smaller than a video cassette (remember them?) and really is very handy. But as I said, portable rather than pocketable. But given the wireless capability of the XDA, the ASUS device is a realistic option for a semi-fixed file server that is accessible wirelessly. And it even has a built in ftp server so you can hook it up to your home network and acess it via the internet using your XDA or whatever. As I write this I'm listening to my mp3s which are stored on my ASUS and played back via a wireless media player. Neat, huh? And it's that capabilty that I want from an XDA but I want to wait until it has A2DP so that I can stream the audio to my hi-fi via bluetooth!!!

ASUS HDD
I have just bought an Asus WL-HDD hard drive case. I was hoping that it would be smaller than it is, the case is the most inefficient I have ever seen. However, it should do what I am looking for.
With a 60G Maxtor hard drive it weighs 315 grammes. Note that you also need a 5 volt supply - more wires, not exactly portable, however it's a good start.
After loads of pain getting to work properly, I have been playing with video streaming and it seems OK, even from an external hard drive plugged into its USB 1.1 port. Not bad, a 40 quid device that has all that and a host USB port and they couldn't get the USB port right on an Exec costing 10 times that...!!!
Now I have got the Asus going, there's other things it can do, like being an Access point and there's loads of tweaks out there from the open source community. Have a look at http://wl500g.info , you can even write your own software for it if you want.
BT would be useless as the max data rate is crap. There is no way that you could reliably stream video without lots of compression...
So, while the Asus product is not perfect, it does mean that I will not be bothering with the XDA add on. I will certainly now be buying an Exec and I now have the bug to start playing with WiFi embedded servers... As a start I think I will recase the Asus, including some LiIon batteries and built in card reader (it just hangs off the USB port). Not really a major development, but it will save carrying a power brick and a load of cables.

80211B
I have just noticed that the WiFi interface is 802.11b.
When I tried video streaming with the Asus WL-HDD, 802.11g would work fine, but 802.11b was just too slow. However I was streaming relatively high quality video.
Ho Hum. I think I'll still get one and try it. I suppose lower quality video can be used, but then some of the advantages of the high quality display are lost. Anyway, for my particular requirement I am more interested in still image display.
Lisa

Without trying to hijack this thread, yes, the WL-HDD isn't the fastest device around! But 11b wireless isn't the problem, even hard wired to my router it doesn't manage anything like 11b speeds. But I can happily play mp3s, and video files that aren't too high quality, that are stored on it. It can, for example, happily cope with playing video files generated from a consumer video camera. But are you actually streaming, or simply playing files stored on the device?
You've already found the wl500g forum where lots of info is available, you could also try www.macsat.com.

802.11b/g
I don't know what goes on with 802.11b or g, but the sustained data rates don't seem to be anywhere near 11 or 54Mbps.
Assuming a reasonable quality 500M MP4 or Divx video 2 hours long. That's around 5Gbits in 15000 secs, i.e. 333kbits/sec.
I have tried dfferent combinations of adapters, routers and pc cards and the results are always similar. Yet file copying times would indicate data rates nearer to those quoted.
Ho hum...

I normally have my WL-HDD connected by ethernet cable but I've just tried it wirelessly and data transfer is just over 5 Mbps. A long way short of 11b never mind 11g speeds. I can play a 30 minute 300MB MPEG movie on my laptop from a file on the WL-HDD. That's a data rate of about 1.3 Mbps. But I tried a 57MB avi file which is only 16 seconds long and it simply wouldn't play properly - it just stuttered along. But the data rate required for that is about 28 Mbps, which is clearly well beyond what the WL-HDD can manage.
But it should be able to cope with anything up to 5 Mbps, i.e. a one hour video file of about 2.2 GB (I think I've got my bits and Bytes, and Mega and Giga, right!)

WiFi 802.11g on your HTC Universal & Wizard
Check this guys!
http://www.pocketpcaddict.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5880
Salam!

Just tryed it, but my network is in the list as "Available" and I dont have a connection
Linksys WRT54GS in G-only mode...

Hi,
Engadget says Universal supports external HDD (read comments at http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/02/...l-questions-weve-got-htc-universal/1#comments )
Is there a way to get in touch with them?

I do not fully understand what everybody is trying to achieve here. I use Resco explorer and connect over Wifi to my home network. I get a shared drive and can use all the harddisk space in the world. Grant it will only work at home, but that is where I need the external space the most.

5 in 1 Card Reader for tab 10.1

There's a handful of these usb+5-1 card readers on amazon/ebay wherever you look. I was wondering if anyone has one of these, and if so how does it work. If not, i'm planning on getting one (feel like it's a good investment.. especially for 5 or 7 bucks).
http://www.amazon.com/QQ-Tech®-Came...3VI6/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1331906071&sr=8-6
I picked this one because it has prime shipping, that's the only reason why. I also ordered another one because it looks a bit shorter. I don't know if it's picture angles or what, but here's the url to that one too.
http://www.amazon.com/Black-CONNECT...6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331911494&sr=1-6
I'll post back on this. Some are saying it's very delicate, or it gets in the way.. but I don't feel like I'm going to be leaving this in the tab very long. Just to pull things from the SD to the tab. We'll see. Hopefully I can drop a review of what I think.
Hope to get back after testing it a little.
Testing:
Firstly, I apologize if this review isn’t in some sort of coherent format. This is my first review of a product... be gentle.
Here’s some pictures so you can compare the two.
Sorry for low lighting, but i think it's good enough so you can see the difference.
I will refer to the fatter Card readers as the QQ, and the slimmer one as the ATC.
Connection and Aesthetics
Off the bat, the ATC one is much thinner. Both of the readers do not work with the ViperTek case I have unless the part holding the tab is folded back. Not a big deal for me, but I though I'd mention that. I have been treating the connectors like small children. The comments of "fragile connections" has got me worried. I can see fragileness on the QQ connector, but on the ATC one, the connection doesn't move around too much. When I plug the ATC one into the tablet, it feels like it locks better than the QQ one.
ATC connector box : weight Approx 18g - Size Approx 48*30*11.5mm
QQ doesn't state the specs, but it's longer and fatter. The width of the 2 are about the same.
Rundown of the QQ Reader:
The QQ reader has a tiny toggle on the right side of the connector to swap between USB and SD. It comes with a clear cap to protect your connection from bending in transportation.
One bad thing I noticed when testing the QQ reader is, it pretty much eats your Micro SD card when you plug it in. The first time I plugged in the reader with an SD card, I got the message at the bottom. The reader had successfully read the card. After that I didn’t know what else to really check. I popped open a File explorer and noticed a new file in the root called usbdrive. I opened that and lo-and-behold, the contents of my sd card showed up. To remove it... I didn’t know what to really do. There is no unmounting option or anything, so I backed out of the file explorer and yanked the whole connector out. Needless to say, I got an error saying “lost connection” and android.media crashed. I plugged the reader back in to see if it still read, and it popped up like it did previously. This time, I removed the SD card first. This stated that the media is removed, and everything seemed ok. Now getting to the bad part. I swapped the connector over to USB, and plugged it in with a usb drive. I think it read once, then after that the QQ connector was dead. I haven’t been able to get it to read cards or USB devices since I swapped the toggle. I emailed the company and see if a replacement gets sent out.
Update: Contacted amazon and just got a refund on the QQ connector. Marked it as defective, since it doesn't really read cards anymore...
Pros: Comes with a cap to protect the connector
Cons: It broke,
USB to SD toggle is very hard to switch on the fly,
Bulky,
Feels Fragile,
Eats your microSD card,
Doesn’t fit well with leather folding cases
I’d stay away from this one and pay a bit more for a better one.
Rundown of the ATC Reader:
The first thing I noticed about this was the lack of usb/sd toggle switch. I connected it to the tab and plugged in a microSD card (plugs in gold sides up). The MicroSD card sticks out half way, and gives a nice click feel, letting me know it was indeed connected. It’s very easy to remove the microSD compared to the QQ reader, and just based off of that I prefer this one over the QQ one. Plugging this into the tab, it suffers the same out of place symptoms as the QQ reader, but I don’t plan on using it connected too long. I plugged in the microSD card and opened up a file explorer. I was able to see the contents again in root\usbdrive. I unplugged the card, then the connector and received no errors. I plugged the connector back in, and tried a usb drive. Again, the connector picked it right up. I decided to plug in both microSD and USB to see what happened, the connector seems to choose microSD as a default, if both are plugged in. After much disconnecting and reconnecting, it’s still working.
Pros: Slim,
No tiny toggle,
Cards stick out allowing easy retrieval,
Feels more sturdy when plugging in,
Works
Cons: Doesn’t work well with leather folding cases,
No protector for connection
Conclusion:
If you’re looking for a card reader/ usb reader, and you’re not ready to dish out 60 bucks for the official samsung ones, I’d look into the ATC Card reader. It’s slim, and seems to work.

Nice post man i was actually just looking into getting one of these. The thing is i have 2 cameras one uses the normal sd memory card but the other uses the a xD card. Was wondering if you came across any that could read xD cards as well as sd.

the smaller one seems great. too bad i only have the big one.
but i found this today: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Hub-OTG-Conn...Cs_Zubehör&hash=item3cc263be5f#ht_4578wt_1139
this looks awesome and is pretty flexible with that cable.

Good external storage options?

As I'm sure many of you feel, 16GB isn't really enough for me. I was wondering if there are any cases with built-in USB storage which could be mounted on the Galaxy Nexus. I could get an adaptor and plug in a USB stick, but I want something I can easily take with me everywhere. Anyone know of anything like this?

duraaraa said:
As I'm sure many of you feel, 16GB isn't really enough for me. I was wondering if there are any cases with built-in USB storage which could be mounted on the Galaxy Nexus. I could get an adaptor and plug in a USB stick, but I want something I can easily take with me everywhere. Anyone know of anything like this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best thing would be is a USB OTG. But you would need root access.
It's just a cable, not much more to carry I guess.

And you'll want the USB stick mount app (free) to get access to that memory stick.
Honestly, nothing is is going to be easier, smaller or lighter to carry around than a USB stick and a short adapter. I use it. What else did you have in mind?

Actually, why not use dropbox? or something similar.
all your music stored on google music would save a few gigs.
important things or whatever in a dropbox.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1587019

Your situation is easily fixed by cloud storage
Sent from my i9250 [GSM) Galaxy Nexus.
[email protected]
[email protected]

Cloud storage is good and all, but only practical if you have a data plan. Some people, like me, rock their GNex on voice and Wifi only, and do not have a data plan (too expensive, I'm a student). Therefore, cloud storage would only work for things that I would not need to have on hand all the time (or you would need Wifi all the time). However, that being said, I have so far never had to use more than half of the 16gb on my nexus.

Consider investing in a Seagate GoFlex Satellite. Works with all phones, holds 500GB, and won't eat up your phone battery as much as a USB drive.

Meenova microSD card reader for Nexus 5

So I got one of the Meenova microSD card readers, and I am finding it works pretty well. I have a 16GB Nexus 5 so don't really have alot of room for media, and I have a very large offline collection of video and music files, and needed some way to use them with the phone without using up my app space. The Meenova fit the bill.
The unit comes with a USB interface that essentially turns your microSD into a USB flash drive. It also comes with a keychain latch so that you can keep the unit on your keychain, and simply pop it in when you need it. It is quite small and doesn't protrude to the point that the phone is difficult to handle. Much better than an OTG with a cable.
I am using Nexus Media Importer since I am not rooted, and am using a 32GB card in it. The website says that if you are rooted you can use StickMount and access SDXC 64GB cards. My 64GB card wouldn't work with Nexus Media Importer as is, as it only supports FAT32 and not exFAT. That's a software issue, though, not a hardware issue.
This little unit solves a big problem for me and gives me at least a reasonably sized media library on the go that I can't have due to the phone's limitations. I can now carry a dozen or so HD movies along with a pretty decent music library and not eat into the phone's storage at all. For the price you can't lose; it is possibly the best $12 I ever spent.
http://www.meenova.com/

already 2 threads about it here and here

Yup, I have one and it's pretty awesome. It works on my Moto X natively, but works just fine with stickmount on my N5. One of the best accessories I've ever bought.

Yeah there's already two threads about this. But just so you know you can format the 64 gb as FAT32 and according to other people that works.

1TB portable hard drive

Is there any way to get a 1TB portable drive to work with a MTCB unit?
Would it work if I could add power to the portable drive?
I'm planning on getting this MTCB KLD unit....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/8-2-Din-And...944270?hash=item43eef68d4e:g:i3oAAOSwH6lXQ8sl
Any and all advice is very much appreciated. Thank you

Based upon reading some reviews of android set-top boxes with the RK3188 CPU, it appears you can mount large drives that are NTFS or FAT32 formatted. Other formats may not work so well.
See here for an example: http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/09/23/em6q-mxq-review-amlogic-s805-hevc/
I'd suggest a 2.5" external HD case, since that requires no external power supply. It is powered by the USB bus alone.
A major limitation, however, is whether or not your head unit can access all of that storage. It appears the maximum USB-based storage size is 80GB, and the maximum microSD card size is 32 GB. It’s not clear if this limitation is built into the processor; I suspect it is.
See here http://autopumpkin.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=552&p=1784&hilit=storage#p1784
Also:
http://autopumpkin.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=420&p=1349&hilit=storage#p1349
See the first link for a discussion on power consumption limitations of your external hard drive. An external SSD or large capacity USB drive may be the best choice.
However, the big question remains as to what exactly you plan to do with 1 TB of storage space on your android car stereo? Do you really need to be carting all those movies and music around on an external hard drive? Are you planning on living in your car for months at a time? (I’m being somewhat facetious, here.)
One last consideration is the time it will take for your android operating system or player apps to scan through all of the files on your drive. If you have a terabyte drive full of files, it’s going to take forever for either of the above to sort through all of your files, even after you launch a player app like JetAudio or PowerAmp.
So the short answer is, go get a large 256GB flash drive, see if it will mount up and see all of the storage space, and then call it a day.
You’re welcome.

CaptShaft said:
Based upon reading some reviews of android set-top boxes with the RK3188 CPU, it appears you can mount large drives that are NTFS or FAT32 formatted. Other formats may not work so well.
See here for an example: http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/09/23/em6q-mxq-review-amlogic-s805-hevc/
I'd suggest a 2.5" external HD case, since that requires no external power supply. It is powered by the USB bus alone.
A major limitation, however, is whether or not your head unit can access all of that storage. It appears the maximum USB-based storage size is 80GB, and the maximum microSD card size is 32 GB. It’s not clear if this limitation is built into the processor; I suspect it is.
See here http://autopumpkin.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=552&p=1784&hilit=storage#p1784
Also:
http://autopumpkin.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=420&p=1349&hilit=storage#p1349
See the first link for a discussion on power consumption limitations of your external hard drive. An external SSD or large capacity USB drive may be the best choice.
However, the big question remains as to what exactly you plan to do with 1 TB of storage space on your android car stereo? Do you really need to be carting all those movies and music around on an external hard drive? Are you planning on living in your car for months at a time? (I’m being somewhat facetious, here.)
One last consideration is the time it will take for your android operating system or player apps to scan through all of the files on your drive. If you have a terabyte drive full of files, it’s going to take forever for either of the above to sort through all of your files, even after you launch a player app like JetAudio or PowerAmp.
So the short answer is, go get a large 256GB flash drive, see if it will mount up and see all of the storage space, and then call it a day.
You’re welcome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Worked for me with FAT32 formatted 250 GB SSD USB hard drive. I tried conventional USB drives both the 7200 RPM and 5400 RPM variety. The USB port did not have enough power to even spin them up and I didn't want to bother with external power. Also I figured a conventional hard drive will die after a while it it has to work inside a moving car and all its vibrations.

My Western Digital 500 gb usb 3.0 hdd works just like it should. The standard "music app" has trouble reading it but apps like VLC or Car Tunes do very well with it. I don't like the idea of a disc with mechanical parts in a car either so I've ordered a 250 gb ssd for my music collection since my 120 gb Ipod is obsolete now. The Ipod playback on my KLD6 is limited to 32 gb Ipods. Sold the Ipod for €100 and bought the ssd for €70 and playing mp3's with the right app is much nicer than the stupid Ipod app anyway.